Roboticist and educator Dr. Julie Carpenter tells us about her research with bomb disposal experts, how society might have to change as robots become more advanced and even what happens when a robot powers down in front of a small child. Recorded late August 2014.

Dr.Tom Stafford is a lecturer in psychology and cognitive science at the University of Sheffield. He explains why the way you practice affects how good you get at something - and he's got 850,000 people to back him up.

For our alternative 2011 'GOTY' show, we asked listeners to make up awards and choose games to win them. That way, games win awards that reflect how you felt about them, not how the industry decides to categorise them. The show has one bit of swearing, but it's a heck of a doozy.

Tell us about a game you played in 2011. Create an award for it to win. This is not a GOTY show.

the two years we’ve run an awards show that is a year late and doesn't have any categories.

By doing 2011 games you've had more time to play Xmas AAA titles. We don’t have categories because we dis/like games for different reasons.

Pick a 2011 game & create an award for it. The award can be anything you want. It doesn’t have to be ‘the best’. It just has to be about your experience, good or bad, silly or serious. You can include board, web and mobile games too.

Matt Magnone really likes claw machines (or crane games as they're called in the UK); you know the ones, all cuddly toys and robotic arms. We spoke to him about his claw machine experiences, insight and tips and tricks.

You create the categories, you pick the winners. In our second-annual game awards - aka Insert Category aka UGGA - we read out your submissions for notable games of 2010. Can you guess which won 'Best use of a sandwich?'

Let's have awards which give us time to reflect on a game, not just ones which happen in December and praise AAA titles released in November. Let's have awards with personalised categories that we create, not just 'best action game' stuff that's only good for PR.

In this short, solo, book review you'll hear about The Badge by Jack Webb. It's a 1958 book about the Los Angeles Police Department, its people and cases. Think of it as the real LA Noire. Music by Kevin MacLeod.

We imagine the different ways and materials through which videogame powers and characters' abilities can be represented. We also have a spoiler-free discussion on what it felt like to play Portal 2 compared to Portal.

In this extremely short, solo show, you'll hear a brief review of Paul Chadwick's comic book 'Concrete: Depths'. Touching and thought provoking, Chadwick's work about a man trapped in a concrete body is worth checking out.

In our discussion of Dragon Age 2, we cover subjects such as dialogue and emotional intent, whether RPGs are just job simulators and how every character in the game is constantly horny. There is a mild, thematic, spoiler about a side quest. We talk about the issues it raises rather than what the quest entails or how it ends.

We knife Assassin's Creed Brotherhood's multiplayer, try to remember Amensia: The Dark Descent, go full throttle with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, get lost in Dungeons and Dragons' Castle Ravenloft and hide in foxholes with Combat Commander Europe.

We start by comparing Fable 3 to Fallout New Vegas and, spoiler, one comes off *very* badly indeeed. Super Meat Boy captures us in his fleshy grasp and we discuss good games that have bad demos. We even see how Civ 5 is more like a boardgame than a PC game and find out about a Civilization-style boardgame called 'Through the Ages'.

Humans have played boardgames for thousands of years - civilisation and gaming are indivisible. I speak to Dr.Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert in ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures, about his interest in games and their development, genres and history.

Staats' Frozen Synapse video. Uploaded with the game's YouTube feature. He is the green player. Notice how, just before his rocket is fired, the top-right red player steps back, waits, then goes forward, avoiding the rocket.

We cover open worlds and 'emergent' gameplay Minecraft, talk about the best support character in gaming with Monday Night Combat and, sadly, end up being a bit mean about Moon Taxi - a game that's all about stories, but doesn't tell them very well.

In this in-depth interview, we speak to David Sirlin, author and videogame / boardgame designer, about Playing to Win, balancing games and more. He was lead designer on Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and re-balanced Puzzle Fighter HD. His boardgames are partially inspired by videogame genres. Note: the iTunes entry may mistakenly say he was lead designer on Puzzle Fighter HD.

We rock up with an alternative to 'traditional' game of the year awards - you came up with the categories, you chose the winners. From the weird to the wonderful, these awards are as much about you as they are games - can you guess which title won 'best stubble'?

We chat about buying a PSP 3000 and rumoured PSP2; argue about Halo Reach and whether its gameplay lets it down; get an AMerican perspective on FIFA 10 (and indulge in some class warfare) and talk about killing demons and fisticuffs in Hell in Arkham Horror.

Games should be bundled with books and movies that deepen the player's understanding of the game and the world at large, benefiting consumer and retailer at the same time.

Gamers are complex people. We're consumers of all sorts of different products, for different reasons and at different times. We mix and match what eat, read, wear, listen to and watch; each feeding into the other, all enriching what we feel and know.

Let me give you an example.

In the film Lord of War, Nicholas Cage plays an arms dealer selling to African warlords and getting paid in diamonds. In the game FarCry 2, one plays a mercenary in Africa, undertaking work for competing warlords, working with arms dealers and getting paid in diamonds.

At some point in FarCry 2, I can't remember exactly when, the game's world made sense to me (and took on some aspect of reality) because I'd seen Lord of War. I realised the futility of what I was doing, the inevitability of the arms dealers, the real cost of the (blood) diamonds and so on. The film enriched my experience of the game and vice versa.

Thus, it seems to me that game bundles shouldn't comprise other games, accessories or doodads, but books and DVDs; indeed anything that deepens your experience of the game and, ideally, vice versa. WWII FPSs could come with the Band of Brothers series or even a documentary on post-traumatic stress disorder. Uncharted 2 could come with a book on Nepal. (The latter is an example of how a big title could drive sales of lesser known products.)

For retailer-created bundles (as opposed to games publishers) companies such as Amazon will have a competitive advantage, since they are likely to have the most products to choose the bundle contents from and be able to ship all items to the customer at once. However, the bundle could be anything as long as there is some way for the retailer to fulfil the order and the customer to make use of it.

For example, if an independent games shop was near an Italian restaurant, they could have a coupon, bundled with Assassin's Creed II, which gave the customer access to a special 15th Century menu and discount at the restaurant.

If you wanted a more outlandish, though entirely plausible suggestion, Afrika, the PS3 game, could come with an offer for safari park tickets. Endless Ocean 2, for Wii, with ones for an aquarium. Don't breakfast cereals have this sort of offer all the time?

(One thing to note -- I've not mentioned digital delivery precisely so you can think of your own examples; I'm sure you thought of quite a few others already.)

As I said at the beginning, gamers are complex people whose diverse interests feed into each other, constantly making us update our beliefs, reappraise what we know and deepening our knowledge of the world at large and the subject at hand.

Notice the similarities? Although the gun and face are different (and the chap in the video is wearing a watch) you'll notice the bandana and camouflage pattern are the same.
I'd be interested to hear how this happened; it's quite possible that Ubisoft got the picture from stock photography.

In the second part of a funny and candid interview, we speak to Mitch Gitelman, Director of First Party Game Development, Xbox Live Arcade, about Bill Gates, Xbox Live Arcade and the future of games. Pt. 2 of 2.

In a funny and candid interview, we speak to Mitch Gitelman, Director of First Party Game Development, Xbox Live Arcade, about his start in the industry, his time at FASA, the ups and downs of making Shadowrun and his work at Microsoft. Pt. 1 of 2.

We interview Paul Kidby, who is now the artist for Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, but used to do cover art for videogames boxes and magazines. We chat to him about his career, how he works and more. (In the show I forgot to mention Dirtbox and Messiac who both had their Qs asked.)

As part of our general catch up show, we chat to Tom Bramwell, Eurogamer.net editor. Topics covered include recession and innovation, who benefits from 'exclusive reviews', journalists and publishers being manipulated and Dawn of War II.

A listener has told us that sometimes the big pink flash player doesn't work too well in Internet Explorer; it makes us sound like The Chipmunks.

This doesn't happen to everyone using IE, but if it happens to you, use the grey 'POD' button next to a show title to play a specific show. Or use the player in the top right of the website to listen to the latest show.

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts, talks to us about modern-day EA closing its casual label, its relationship with creative developers, how he balances being a creative person and a businessman and what he thinks of Sony's HOME for Playstation 3.

UPDATE:

We had some questions about Trip comparing HOME to WoW. I got in touch with him and he said this:

"The only reason I noted WoW and HOME together is that they are both from hardcore game companies with a hardcore bias. Hence they both care about 3D graphics and immersion based on audiovisual realism, and their concept of "social" is to be gameplay competitors online. By contrast, what I call the Omni Consumer is more socially motivated and is more likely to adopt technology that is simpler and more convenient and that they know their friends can handle, plus the Omni Consumer may be
seeking social benefits like making a date in real life."

To find out more about the omni consumer concept, listen to part two of the interview.

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and creator of the Madden series, talks to us about arranged marriages in Japan, technology expanding social networks and why loneliness will be a major health issue of the future.

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and creator of the Madden series, talks about pre-teens using credit cards to play games, why Nintendo got it right, how the West has overrated the market for MMORPGs and why Blizzard, and hardcore gamers, will have to get used to people buying gold and items.

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronics Arts and creator of the Madden games, talks about the future of the videogames industry, why good graphics intimidate casual gamers, stock options in companies and if he's an urban hoodie.

Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and creator of the Madden games, tells us about his mobile games company Digital Chocolate. He talks about the advent of the 'omni-media gamer' and why the iPhone is a bigger deal than the PC.

Trip Hawkins founded Electronic Arts and created the Madden series. He talks to us about the history of Madden, its inspiration and creation, including titles such as Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One. He also talks about how important the Sega Genesis (AKA Sega Megadrive) was to EA Sports.

Interview - Prof. Charles Spence is head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University. We speak to him about the interplay of our senses and their use in computer games, including why it's hard to play FPSs and talk tactics at the same time. However the first thing he talks about is food; crisps in particular.

INTERVIEW: Paul is a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner with youth charity Kikass. NLP tries to figure out why people are successful. Video games have a 'win or lose' way of judging success which is, broadly, modelled on society's view. NLP says something different. We start talking about the U.S. educational system, then segue into games.

INTERVIEW: User Interface design is incredibly important for games - it covers the way humans interact with consoles and computers by using keyboard, mouse, joystick, joypad and Wii remote. Arun Mehta knows all about User INterface design issues, has developed software at the request of Stephen Hawking, and is using games and steering wheels help kids with cerebral palsy and autism use computers.

INTERVIEW: Our guest 'Messiac' is a games development lecturer. He talks to Someguy, a recruiter for the games industry, about games design courses, their relevance to the industry and what their graduates can realistically expect.

We review Dead Space 2, hear about the Resistance 2 beta and chat about 'impact bias' and why your brain might trick you into getting overexcited about new games. (Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/6f4rlp)

We discuss - vigorously - Peter Molyneux's view of the game's industry internal divide between hardcore and casual gamers. Is this viewpoint damaging for the industry and for 'hardcore' games? (This show was inspired by a Kotaku article and a shot of Peter M. holding an invisible baby.)

In this show I talk with ‘Someguy’, a man on the periphery of the games industry.

We talk about how renting games affects the way one plays and think
about them. We also touch on what developers think of the rental
industry. At the start of the show we have mini-reviews of Tiger Woods
09 and Dark Sector for the 360.

My guest, Danjo Olivaw, and I continue on the GTA4 procedural content theme. We push it further we discuss ways of generating massive amounts of content for massive games. (Note that we’re talking about content that’s not crucial to a game’s plot.)

We also talk about children and computer games, touching on edutainment and the way kids relate to robots.

On a slightly lower note, there’s also swearing and talk of blue movies. NOTE: This is the last show recorded while playing a game.